A Brooklyn father is hailing his pregnant, off-duty police officer wife as a hero after she rescued their 4-year-old son from a would-be kidnapper who tried to snatch the boy from his grandmother’s arms.
Gentle Roberts, 34, said his wife Anyia James Roberts — who is seven months pregnant — jumped into action when a stranger grabbed their son outside a Crown Heights McDonald’s and refused to let go. The boy had been with his 66-year-old grandmother on East Parkway near Utica Avenue around 5 p.m. When the woman attacked.
“His mom pulled him away from her,” Gentle Roberts said Thursday. “She’s a strong woman. She’s back at work today.”
The father told The Post that the woman repeatedly insisted the child was hers during the terrifying struggle. “She was saying, ‘That’s my kid!’ She was saying that more than once,” he recounted. “The lady grabbed him by his shirt on his shoulder, and she wouldn’t let go. She was fighting his grandmother. They were pulling him back and forth, and he started crying.”
The suspect eventually fled after Anyia James Roberts intervened and pulled her son to safety. The boy, though frightened and crying, was unharmed and returned to school Thursday.
Gentle Roberts described the would-be abductor as appearing unremarkable — not homeless, clean, carrying a phone — and someone the family had never seen before. “She didn’t look homeless. She was clean. She had a phone. They never seen her before,” he said.
Police have released surveillance images of the suspect and are asking anyone with information to contact the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS. The woman remains at large.
The father expressed urgent concern that the suspect poses an ongoing threat to children in the community. “I want them to find her because if she don’t get him, she could come back and she could try to get him again,” Gentle Roberts said. “Or she could try to get some other kid. She’s definitely not right. I would tell her to turn herself in. They’re looking for you.”